FEATURE: Disappointing albums of 2013

Each year we are presented with a variety of releases from an equal variety of bands. Listeners are certainly spoilt for choice and 2013 has been no different.

However, while some albums simply hit it out of the park, others fall short leaving listeners underwhelmed.

Today, we look at some albums that promised to endear but instead created indifference.



10. Biffy Clyro - Opposites

‘Opposites’ was an ambitious release for Biffy Clyro, which, unfortunately, didn’t pay off. While the album did contain some absolutely incredible songs, there really wasn’t enough here to justify releasing a double album, and the choice to do so resulted in quite a lot of filler being strewn throughout the track listing, making what could have been a very great full length album a chore to listen to from start to finish.

9. Iwrestledabearonce - Late For Nothing

Louisiana mathcore five-piece Iwrestledabearonce have been creating music since their inception that is nothing short of complete and total chaos, in the best possible way. The band’s latest effort ‘Late For Nothing,’ however, doesn’t even come close to this. In fact, it seems incredibly tame in comparison to the bands older material. All in all, this album was a definite step in the wrong direction for IWABO.

8. Jimmy Eat World - Damage

If you’re twenty something years old, chances are that Jimmy Eat World were the soundtrack to your youth, and that you were, at least to some extent, excited about this record. However, ‘Damage’ is incredibly hit and miss. If you were to listen to the album on shuffle, you’d have roughly a 50% chance of listening to a good song, and even then, it certainly won’t come close to some of the greater things that we’ve come to expect from the band.

7. Panic! At The Disco - Too Weird to Live, Too Rare To Die

Panic! At The Disco are a band that seem to almost completely re-invent themselves with every release they put out, and such is the case with ‘Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die,’ the band’s most pop-oriented release yet. The album may kick off with a bang in the form of opener ‘This Is Gospel,’ but what follows is a collection of songs that can only be described as largely uninspiring.

6. Chunk, No Captain Chunk! - Pardon My French

‘Pardon My French’ is, to be incredibly blunt, a very bland and boring effort from the French pop punk/metalcore five piece. The songs all sound more or less the same, to the point where you can get four or five tracks into the record without even realising that you’re listening to a different song, and there’s virtually nothing in the 12 songs that warrants giving the album a second listen.

5. Megadeth - Super Collider

With just a year and a half between the release of 'Thirteen' and 'Super Collider,' Megadeth released what is arguably the worst album of their career in 2013. The final product seems understandably very rushed, and to be frank, we should be able to expect more from a band hailed as one of the 'big four' of thrash metal.

4. Kanye West - Yeezus

To be a little subjective for a second, personally, I've loved a lot of Kanye's material (I guess it could be considered a bit of a guilty pleasure), but despite a great deal of critical acclaim, one found Yeezus to be terribly disappointing and overly self-indulgent, even for Kanye. It’s almost as if the whole time you listen to the album, you’re being told “This is amazing because I made it,” which doesn’t make for a particularly pleasant listening experience.

3. Falling In Reverse - Fashionably Late

We’re all for experimenting and crossing over boundaries when it comes to creating music, but this album was nothing short of an absolute trainwreck. We don’t think that there are many people in the world that can understand what exactly was going through Ronnie Radke’s head when he was writing the songs on this album, and there are probably even less who know why he decided to record it.

2. Black Flag - What The...

'What The...' is a pretty apt title for the latest release from once hardcore punk legends Black Flag. With this album, Greg Ginn’s latest reincarnation of one of the pioneering hardcore bands have only managed to prove that they’ll never manage to reach the same levels that the original did. Black Flag is dead.

1. 30 Seconds To Mars - Love Lust Faith Dreams

‘Love Lust Faith Dreams’ was arguably one of the most anticipated releases of 2013, and it’s understandable listeners were incredibly excited to get their hands on it. 30 Seconds To Mars have shown time and again (particularly on ‘A Beautiful Lie’ and ‘This Is War’) the kind of powerhouse alternative rock that they’re capable of, and so it was incredibly disappointed when we were presented with this album, because save for maybe one or two songs, ‘Love Lust Faith Dreams' is an incredibly bland, fake, and overproduced mess.

What were some albums you had high hopes for in 2013 that failed to satisfy expectations? Let us know below.